Electrical connectors having a contact part on one side of a base part that is secured to a housing are known. It is further known that the contact part contacts a mating contact. Still further, such electrical connectors are known to have an elastic contact part that elastically contacts a conductive pad on a circuit board. The elastic contact parts are known to be provided on the other side of the base part, opposite the side with the contact part, in order to make repeated connections with the circuit board for the reason of replacement or the like.
The electrical connector shown in Prior Art FIG. 8 (see JP11-126,667A), for example, is known to be an electrical connector of the type described above. Prior Art FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional electrical connector of the type described above.
The electrical connector 101 shown in Prior Art FIG. 8 comprises an insulating housing 110 and a plurality of contacts 120 made of metal that are attached to the housing 110.
The housing 110 comprises a housing base part 111 that extends in the direction of length (direction perpendicular to the plane of the page in Prior Art FIG. 8) and a ridge part 112 that is provided in the central portion of the housing base part 111 in the direction of width (left-right direction in Prior Art FIG. 8) and that protrudes upward from the housing base part 111 and extends in the direction of length.
Furthermore, the plurality of contacts 120 are arranged in two rows along both left and right side surfaces of the ridge part 112 of the housing 110. Each of the contacts 120 comprises a first plate part 121 and a second plate part 122 that are folded back at one end on the mating side, and is disposed in the housing 110 such that the first plate part 121 is on the outside, and the second plate part 122 is on the inside. The first plate part 121 of each contact 120 is provided with a fastening part 123, a contact part 124, and a connecting part 125. The fastening part is press-fitted in the housing 110. The contact part extends upward from the fastening part 123 and contacts a mating contact of a mating connector (not shown in the figure). The connecting part 125 extends downward from the fastening part 123 and is connected to a circuit board (not shown in the figure). The connecting part 125 comprises a first elastic part 125a, a second elastic part 125b, and an elastic contact part 125c. The first elastic part 125a extends in a straight line from the lower end of the fastening part 123 diagonally toward the outside at a small angle off vertical. The second elastic part 125b extends in a straight line from the lower end of the first elastic part 125a diagonally toward the outside at a large angle off vertical. The elastic contact part 125c is provided at the tip end of the second elastic part 125b and elastically contacts a conductive pad on the circuit board. Moreover, the elastic contact parts 125c of the contacts 120 in each row are arranged so as to form a straight line along the direction of length of the housing 110 (row direction of the contacts 120).
The electrical connector 101 constructed in this manner is secured to the surface of the circuit board by mounting the housing 110 to the circuit board using fixing screws (not shown in the figure) or the like, and the elastic contact parts 125c of the respective contacts 120 elastically contact the conductive pads on the circuit board. Furthermore, when the mating connector is caused to mate with the ridge part 112 of the electrical connector 101 while the electrical connector 101 is secured to the surface of the circuit board, the mating contacts make contact with the contact parts of the respective contacts 120, so that the mating contacts and the conductive pads on the circuit board are electrically connected.
Moreover, the electrical connector shown in Prior Art FIG. 9, for example, is known to be an electrical connector in which an elastic contact part that elastically contacts to a circuit board is provided, not on a contact, but on a shield (see JP03-012,383U). Prior Art FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of another conventional electrical connector.
The electrical connector 201 shown in Prior Art FIG. 9 comprises an insulating housing 210, a plurality of contacts 220 made of metal that are attached to the housing 210, and a shield 230 made of metal that covers the housing 210.
The plurality of contacts 220 are arranged in two rows along the direction of length of the housing 210 (direction perpendicular to the plane of the page in Prior Art FIG. 9). Each of the contacts 220 comprises an elastic contact part 221 and a terminal part 222. The elastic contact part 221 contacts a first circuit board 250 on the upper side. The terminal part contacts a mating contact 241 provided on a mating connector 240 on the lower side. The mating connector 240 is mounted on a second circuit board 260.
Furthermore, the metal shield 230 covers the housing 210, and a first elastic contact part 231 and a second elastic contact part 232 that elastically contact conductive pads provided on the second circuit board 260 are provided at the lower ends of both sides of the housing 210 in the direction of width (both sides in the left-right direction in Prior Art FIG. 9). The first elastic contact part 231 is designed to extend in a straight line from the lower end of the shield 230 diagonally toward the outside and to elastically contact a conductive pad (not shown in the figure) formed on the second circuit board 260. The second elastic contact part 232 is designed to be bent inward after extending outward from the lower end of the shield 230 and to elastically contact a conductive pad (not shown in the figure) formed on the second circuit board 260 with the tip end of this second elastic contact part 232.
However, the following problems have been encountered in these conventional electrical connectors 101 and 201 shown in Prior Art FIGS. 8 and 9, respectively.
Specifically, in the case of the electrical connector 101 shown in Prior Art FIG. 8, because the connecting parts 125 of the contacts 120 in the two rows extend outward so as to be separated from each other in the direction of width of the housing 110, a large space is required for forming the conductive pads that respectively contact the elastic contact parts 125c on the circuit board in the direction of width of the housing 110. Furthermore, because the elastic contact parts 125c of the contacts 120 in each row are arranged to form a straight line along the direction of length of the housing 110, a large space is required for forming the conductive pads that respectively contact the elastic contact parts 125c in the direction of length of the housing 110 as well. In other words, if an attempt is made to make the conductive pads correspond to the multi-position elastic contact parts 125c in a state in which the width of the individual conductive pads contacted by the elastic contact parts 125c is large, a large space is required for forming the conductive pads in the direction of length of the housing 110. On the other hand, if an attempt is made to reduce the space required for forming the conductive pads in the direction of length of the housing 110 while corresponding to the multi-position elastic contact parts 125c, then the width of each of the conductive pads contacted by the elastic contact parts 125c must be reduced.
Here, when the width of each conductive pad is reduced, the elastic contact parts 125c tend not to contact the conductive pads. In particular, when numerous electrical connectors 101 are simultaneously connected to a circuit board, there are cases in which the elastic contact parts 125c do not contact the conductive pads because of the dimensional tolerance of each contact 120, errors in attachment to the housing 110, the accumulation of the dimensional tolerances of the conductive pads in the direction of length of the housing 110, or the like.
Moreover, in the case of the electrical connector 201 shown in Prior Art FIG. 9, the second elastic contact parts 232 extend outward from the lower end of the shield 230, are then bent inward, and contact conductive pads formed on the second circuit board 260 with the tip ends thereof, therefore, this contributes to a reduction in the space required for forming the conductive pads in the direction of width of the electrical connector 201. However, because the first elastic contact parts 231 still extend in a straight line from the lower end of the shield 230 diagonally toward the outside, and elastically contact conductive pads formed on the second circuit board 260, a large space is required for forming the conductive pads that contact the first elastic contact parts 231 in the direction of width of the housing 210.